Machine for compressing and finishing circular metallic articles



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

ARTICLES.

No. 371,813. Patented Oct. 18 188:7.

M IN

Atty

WITNESSES:

N. PETERS. PhnlaLithographer, Washinghzn. ac,

(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2. R. BAGALEY.

MACHINE FOR COMPRESSING AND FINISHING CIRCULAR METALLIC ARTICLES.

Patented Oct. 18, 1887.

I. mnmmum llllll [I II numb m um I,

WITNESSES:

(No Model.) 3 She'etsSheet 3.

R. BAGALEY.

MACHINE FOR OOMPRESSING AND FINISHING CIRCULAR METALLIC ARTICLES.

N0.3'71,813. Patented Oct. 18,1887.

FIG.4-.

III'IWII W W I fiK/Z W W N. PETERS, Phow-Lilhogmpller, Washi nnnnnnn C.

NIIED dra'rns arnarr amen,-

RALPH BAGALEY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR COMPRESSING AND FINISHING CIRCULAR METALLIC ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,813, dated October 1:8, 1887.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH BAGALEY, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for 'Iruing and Finishing Circular Articles, of which improvements the following is a specification.

The invention herein relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of railway-car wheels, and has for its object the truing of cylindrical or circular articles-such as carwheels, &c.and the surface condensation of the metal of such articles, whereby the same are rendered more durable.

It has been ascertained by long experience that it is practically impossible to manufacture car-wheels or other circular or cylindrical articles by casting having a true perimeter on account of the distortion of the mold by the heat of the molten metal in contact therewith.

The invention herein consists, in general terms, in the construction and combination of parts of a mechanism, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed, whereby the tread of the wheel or wearing-surface of other articles is after casting caused to conform to a true circle, and the surface metal thereof is at the same time condensed and finished in a manner similar to the known cold-rolling op? eration.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same, the section being taken on the line a; as, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the machine. Figs. 4 and 5 are views in sectional elevation and plan of a modification of the apparatus.

The bedplate 1, mounted on a suitable foundation, is provided around its perimeter with a series ofposts or standards, 3, each standard having formed thereon an inwardly projecting bracket, 4. On these brackets are arranged the curved segmental block 5 5 5*, adjustable on said brackets through the medium of the screws 6,passing through the posts or standards. At the center of the circle, passing through the posts 3, a socket, 7, is formed in the bed-plate for the reception of one end of the journal 8 of the rotating plate or roll 9,

' the plate or roll 9 are shaped to correspond to the tread and flange of a car-wheel, as shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 1, the segments do not entirely surround the plate 9, an open space being left for the insertion and removal 6 of the wheels or other articles being treated. For feeding the wheels I provide an inclined chuteor trough, 15, of a width between the flanges or sides a little greater tl an the di ameter of the wheels measured through the flanges thereof, and provided with a central longitudinal gutter or groove, 16, for the reception of the hub. This-chute is arranged so that wheels placed at its upper end will slide down and enter between the plate 9 and the segments, the flanges of the wheels entering the grooves in the operative faces of the plate and segments. The wheels are carried around by the rotation of the plate, and discharged into a chute, 17, similar in construction to the chute 15, but oppositely arranged.

In order to prevent any upward movement of the plate and the consequent disengagement of its toothed portion from the pinion, presserfeet 18 are adjustably secured to the arms of 8 the grid 11 and bear upon the upper surface of the plate through the medium of frictionrollers 19, attached to their lower ends.

In the practice of my invention the wheels are formed of steel, preferably-refined Bessemer, cast in suitable molds in the usual manner. The wheels thus formed, being similar to the ordinary wheel in all respects except in diameter, which is slightly greater than that desired in the finished wheel, are removed from the mold as soon as the metal has set sufficiently to permit of handling, and then placed in the chute 15, down which the Wheels slide into position between the segments and the rotating plate. The segment 5 is so adjusted by means of the screws 6 that the distance between the operative faces of the rotating plate and the segment, at the point where the wheel enters, will be so much less than the diameter of the wheel that the latter will be firmly caught and carried forward by the rotation of the plate. The opposite end of the segment 5 is adjusted a little closer to the face of the plate, thereby throwing the radii of the arc of the circle on which the operative face of the segment is formed at an angle to the radii of the arc of the circle on which the operative face of the plate 9 is formed, and providing a passage with gradually-converging walls for the movement of the car-wheel. The segment 5 is similarly adjusted, its face at the end adjacent to the segment 5 being practically the same distance from the face of the plate as that of the segment 5; but its opposite end is a little closer to the face of the plate 9.

During its passage between the rotating plate and the segments 5 and 5 the tread of the wheel is somewhat reduced in diameter and made to conform to a true circle of corresponding diameter, all inequalities being removed, and at the same time the metal of the tread and flange are affected in a manner similar to that produced by rolling or forging.

The segment 5" is so adjusted with relation to the periphery of thevplate that the wheel is firmly gripped and a slight compressing action, similar to that known as cold-rolling, is produced on the tread, the wheel having become so reduced in temperature before it has passed entirely through between the segment 5 and plate as to be incapable of any practical reduction or change of size and shape.

While a slight reduction in size, but none in shape or contour, is effected during the above-described operation, such reduction is not the main or principal object, but rather a removal of any inequalities and a reduction of the perimeter to a true circle.

In lieu of the construction above described, theapparatus may be constructed as shown in Figs 4 and 5, wherein a reciprocating plate having its operative face formed on the arc of a circle is substituted for the rotating plate 9, and only one segmental block, 5, is employed. The segment 5 in this construction is secured to a movable bed, 20, mounted on V-shaped guides 21, formed on the supporting-plate 22. The movable bed is adjusted back and forth on the plate 22 by the screw 23, mounted in suitable hearings on the plate 22 and engaging a threaded projection, 24; depending from the under side of the movable bed 20. The reciprocating plate 9 is mounted on a steel stud or shaft, 25, keyed in the plate 26, which is provided with a V-shaped guide 27, formed on the are of a circle and serving as a support for free end of the plate 9. In lieu of the pinion 13, I employ in this construction a reciprocating rack, 28, which, engaging with the gear-teeth 12 on the under side of the plate, serves to reciprocate the same.

The operative faces of the reciprocating plate 9 and the segment5 are formed on arcs of circles having a common center which shall coincide with the center of motion of the plate 9, and whose radii shall differ in length by an amount equal to the diameter desired in the finished wheel. In such a construction the operative faces of the segment and plate will be parallel only when the distance between them is equal to the diameter of the finished wheel, and hence the two faces will be eccentric to each other when separated sufficiently to admit the wheel to be operated on, the greatest eccentricity being at a point midway of the length of the faces, and will remain eccentric during operation, but constantly decreasing in degree until the wheel is reduced to the desired diameter.

The supporting-plates 22 and 26 are arranged on and bound together the bed-plate 1, which in this construction is provided with flanges at its ends to retain the parts of the mechanism in place.

Although I have described my invention as applied to the manufacture of car-wheels, it is obvious that by changing the shape or configuration of the operative faces of the plate and segments it can be employed for finishing other cylindrical or circular articles, such as cannon-balls, shafts, axles, c.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. In an apparatus for truing and finishing circular bodies, the combination of an adjustable segment and a movable plate, the operative faces of the segment and plate being concave and convex, respectively, and formed on arcs of circles whose curvature is such with respect to each other that said faces are eccentric to each other at the beginning of their operation but parallel when the article being treated is brought to the desired size, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for truing and finishing circular bodies, the combination of a series of adjustable segments having their operative faces formed on arcs of circles and a circular plate rotating within the segments, the former being adjusted eccentric to thelatter, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

RALPH BAGALEY.

Witnesses:

' W. B. CoRwIN,

DARWIN S. WOLCOTT.

I OC 

